Regions

Skills of the “Unskilled”: Work and Mobility among Mexican Migrants

Jennifer A. Jones of the University of Notre Dame reviews Skills of the “Unskilled”: Work and Mobility among Mexican Migrants, by Jacqueline Hagan, Ruben Hernandez-Leon, and Jean-Luc Demonsant. Despite the value of migrants’ work experiences and the substantial technical and interpersonal skills developed throughout their lives, the labor-market contributions of these migrants are often overlooked and their mobility pathways poorly understood. Skills of the “Unskilled” reports the findings of a five-year study that draws on research including interviews with 320 Mexican migrants and return migrants in North Carolina and Guanajuato, Mexico. The authors uncover these migrants’ lifelong human capital and identify mobility pathways associated with the acquisition and transfer of skills across the migratory circuit, including reskilling, occupational mobility, job jumping, and entrepreneurship.

Book by Jacqueline Hagan, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Ruben Hernandez-Leon, University of California, Los Angeles; and Jean-Luc Demonsant, Toulouse School of Economics
Reviewed by Jennifer A. Jones, University of Notre Dame

CMS is a member of the Scalabrini International Migration Network (SIMN), a global network of 270+ entities that provide services to migrants, including shelters and welcoming centers in receiving communities.